It was an Accident
by The-Bored-Bookworm
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir were always supposed to work together. But they were rivals, almost enemies.
1. When They First Met

The first time Ladybug and Chat Noir met, they worked together to defeat Stoneheart. They swore to protect the citizens of Paris and keep the city safe.

The city loved them.

The second time the two Miraculous wielders met there was tension. They tried to work together but something was off. Chat's baton would miss, Ladybug's yoyo would tangle, the two could not seem to put a proper plan together. No matter the difficulties, the two stopped the Akuma and Ladybug purified the little butterfly to the cheers of the citizens of Paris.

The third time they met was the worst yet. The two would barely talk to each other, easily getting in the way of one another and causing the fight to drag on longer than it ever needed to be. When they did talk, it was only to argue over whose fault it was that the Akuma had slipped through their fingers again. By the end of it all, Chat managed to get the item away from the Akuma and released the butterfly. But he couldn't do anything else.

Chat Noir could not do anything in the eyes of the city. All they saw was Ladybug purifying and fixing the damaged the Akuma had caused.

Chat was destructive. He got in the way of Ladybug. He only caused more problems than there were to begin with. Even when he helped there was little thanks given to him.

They all cheered for her.

It was not fair.

The city love Ladybug.  
They tolerated Chat Noir.

Chat Noir knew he could do better than Ladybug.

The fourth time they met they acted on their own, each trying to get to the Akuma first and defeat it before the other gets the chance to. Chat got to it first. He took this chance to try something.

He used Cataclysm on the poor little butterfly.

The butterfly died, and along with it all the evil feelings that were used to create the Akuma. His plan worked. But not fully.

Taking one look around him, he saw the damage done to the city was only half repaired. Luckily the Akuma had still been fresh and hadn't cause much damage to the city but there was still some and that was all the citizens would care about. Chat Noir stopped the Akuma but didn't fix the city.

Not like Ladybug could.

"You should have waited for me. We're supposed to be partners."

"Then why can't we work together correctly? Why do they only care about you?"

"The city cares about both of us."

"They only cheer for you, never for me."

"It's not important who they cheer for, what's important is that we keep this city safe as partners."

"It would still be nice to be appreciated, to be seen as your partner and not as a nuisance"

If he couldn't be a good partner then he would be her rival.

Maybe even her enemy.


	2. Normal

Adrien was surprised when his father allowed him to attend public school. After living so long under his strict rules and only having few chances at freedom, the thought of his father allowing him to attend public school without being tricked or threatened into letting him seemed like a miracle.

Attending public school and being able to make his own friends was a dream come true.

It also helped that being out of the house for school made it easier for him to be Chat Noir.

It had been several months since the day he had used Cataclysm on to try to purify the Akuma. He hadn't done it since. Instead of trying to purify it himself, he'd simply wait for Ladybug and let her purify it. At least that way the citizens of Paris saw him as helpful rather than hurtful. One day they will warm up to him like the first day they saved Paris. Only now him and Ladybug were not a team.

They had a simply system set in place. If Chat Noir found the Akuma first, he would defeat it and wait for Ladybug to arrive to purify it. If Ladybug got to it first, she would defeat it and purify it. If they both arrived at the same time or one arrived soon after the other, they would each try to take down the Akuma first. There was little to no talking between them. No matter what, they would stop every Akuma that threatened the city of Paris.

They may have a rivalry between them, but they were not going to let that get in the way of protecting Paris.

But, despite all the times he had helped her, Paris still preferred Ladybug.

It made Adrien sad to think about it, hanging out before class with his best friend.

"What's bring you down?" asked Nino.

"My father said no to me spending the night with you over the weekend," lied Adrien. He wasn't lying about not being able to spend the night, his father still disproved of his friendship with Nino, he was lying about what had him upset. There was no way to explain to what he was going through to Nino so he might was well give him a plausible reason to his sad mood and hope that it wouldn't led to any questions.

"Bummer, I had so much planned out. Is he at least letting you come over later to 'do homework' together," he said.

"He'll allow it as long as I'm back for dinner. He says it's so I don't break my diet." This time he wasn't lying.

"Nice," said Nino, "now let's get to class before we are later than Marinette."

At the sound of Marinette's name, Adrien cheered up. Out of all his classmates, the only one that was nicer to him than Nino was Marinette. Despite their bad first meeting, Marinette had forgiven him and even offered to be his friend. She was kind, caring, and stood up against Chloe whenever she was mean to their classmates. Chances are there would have been more frequent Akuma attacks if it weren't for Marinette shutting Chloe down and cheering up anymore Chloe upset. She made his first experience in public school so much nicer.

Class that day was a bit more exciting than most days, only because they were told that they were going to be doing group projects. The excitement died down as soon as the class was told that their partners were preassigned. Adrien was lucky enough to be put in a group with Nino and Alya. Alya was nice and they got along well enough so he had no worries over getting along while getting their work done.

It was Marinette he was worried about.

She had the unforunate luck of being pair with Chloe and Sabrina. Adrien grew up with Chloe and knew what type of selfish, spoil person she had grown into. There was no way she was not going to find some way to make Marinette and Sabrina do all her work and take all the credit. Marinette didn't deserve to have to deal with the headache that is Chloe Bourgeois. The only comfort he had was the knowledge that Marinette was not the kind of person that would be pushed around by Chloe and at the very least she would get Chloe to pull some of the weight.

The rest of the class passed normally. People complained, someone got sent out, Chloe harassed another classmate. Nothing Adrien hadn't seen before.

Things were normal when Adrien went with Nino and Alya to the library to begin their project.

Until the giant hairdryer appeared and started to attack Chloe.

While everyone was either distracted by the sudden hairdryer or running out of the library like their life depended on it, Adrien hid behind a bookshelf and transformed. The action was taking place right in front of him. There was no way that Ladybug would beat him to this Akuma.

But Ladybug arrived before him. They didn't say a word to each other as they both tried to out do the other. In the end, the Akuma got away and neither of them had any clue where he was heading.

"Hey Chat," said Ladybug.

But Chat Noir raced off without either a single glance or a chance to speak. He had to find this Akuma before she did. He had to prove he was a hero too.

He checked the general area around the school before heading back to give Nino some have baked excuse about how his father wanted him home while an Akuma was out. He assure him and Alya that he would do his part in the project and if they needed him he would only be a phone call away.

With that taken care of, Adrien transformed once again and took his time looking around the city to find the Akuma. The hairdryer the Akuma made had been going after Chloe but he saw no Akuma or even a trace of it as he kept an eye on the hotel Chloe lived in.

Eventually, Chat realized that the Akuma was not coming back to attack Chloe for a while so he decided to take another look around the school to see if he was still hiding there. Chat took a quick look at the buildings that were around the school too.

And that was when he saw the Akuma fly out of Marinette's window.


End file.
